MR HAWKINS' SPEECH AT TENUI.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1841, 17 November 1884, Page 2

MR HAWKINS' SPEECH AT TENUI.

The following speech was delivered by Mr ' Hawkins at Tenui on Friday last:- v Mr Chairman and Gentlemen.-Let me first jxpress my great satisfaction at seeing suehj nterest taken in public questions as is shown ; iy the large attendance to-day, It is nola nere local matter, this of roads and Waster - /ands, which we have to discuss, but a truly lolitical question, It affects population-, it ffeots production, anditaffeciiievenue, and n ite solution here and else'wnere depends . . he developement and advantage of large and ortile districts, not only here but elsewhere nd if that does not constitute practical olonial politics, I would like to know what iocs, It is a question, it is true which' can . inly, be solved by Parliament, but id what My>-it will be solved depends upon the nteiligence and persistent actijfr of tho - onsticuenbiea. The. object of otfcvmeetingo^day: is to considenin what way, and by vhat means we can get metalled roads foi he North-Wairarapa; hojkand by what deans, we'eah get the of Crown • .ands to the north of us opened up and ettled witn a substantial thrifty population Cheers)... It is manifest that this involves , wo separate points, .firstly, an immediate ( übstuntial grant to put an end at once to he intolerable miseries the settlers have ndured "for so many! years, of hopeless ighting against hopes," and secondly, a * remanent system which shall provide for an j innual steady progress,, a system baaed not ut the fluctuating uncertainties of Ministerial apriee, or the hazardous,, chances of tho Dbby scrambles, bat a system which makes he settlers themselves responsible masters if their own progress (applause), Now as o the.first of these I am nohgoing to weary 'ou by repeating all that waS'said at Masteron, it may be summed up -in a few vords, it was proposed by past Governments to nake the Main Trunk Line from Wellington o Napier pass via Masterton and the FortyWile Bush'to Woodville, Since, that, prolosal was made, the Wellington%ttiawaw Jompany has been formed and is pushing hrongli its works with an engineering skill ind with an energy which sets an example ,o the Government Department, Parliament ias sanctioned the North Track Railway, ind the Napier-Woodville linSKill be conlected with the North Trunk™e, and tho iVeUinptton-Manawatu line through the Manawatu Gorge at either BuDnytborpe .or talmevaton, It is not ne'eessarv to argue ibontit. _lt is aplain incontestable fact, ; hat by this action Parliament has effectually nade the Gorge line the Main Trunk railway ram Wellington to Napier, TheKimutaka, ifasterton, Forty Mile Rush line is not, and iannot be the Main Trunk line between Wellington and Napier. Facts have been oo Btrong for the intentions of past Governnents, and the proposed extension from Masterton to Woodville has become a disriot line-essentially district;. the trafflp ■' rom the Upper end will gravitate to Wood?ille, from the lower eudto Maß&rton, and io through traffic from Napier to wSJtington will pass that way. Now, £300,000 was ping to bo spent oe that line. The late iovernmeat, very improperly I think, jorsisted against strong remonstrance in ;oing on with that railway, and £25,000 has >een spent-fortunately no more, No one e better aware than the Minister of Public Works that I am right in saying this, and no we is better aware that if the true interests if the colony are to bo consulted, the works should 1)9 Btopped now and thojupney more profitably employed, What St hinders 1 in alleged moral obli°ation w to certain settlers;not to the Scandinavian settlers at Mauriceville, for they settled there before tho railway was dreamt of. To whom then ? To how many ? And what proof is there that the phantom lure of a future railway ever induced one of them to go there, or varied one sixpeuce toe price they gave for their land 1 But it the obligation is not to actual resident settlers, are wo to consult .Be land speculators ? I for one would lielff them to nothing but a malediction, these rasn who sit down on land,« ho do nothing to it, who keep improving setilurß out, are the curse of every locality, men who iie by watching for the moment when-the. industry and enterprise of others shall'have opened up their land, and put its value at a premium, to ' realise a profit they never earned (cheers.) We ask thra that the Government should itop the line, and as compensation grant £IOO,OOO to the County for tho completion af its road system and tho opening up of the Waste lands (applause,) Ido not 6ay that the day will not come when it will psy to make a railway through from Masterton to Woodville,- and I think it quite possible we nay show some day that it will pay to make i railway through to Daiiovirk or even further east ivith a branch to Cashpoint. But, [ say that the time has not yet come, and ;aat while the whole Countyjtotarved for rant of roads, it is a wastcfiHfnd extrava;ant thing to build a railway along the only netalled road in the County, while also one third the money it would cost would deliver he rest of the County from its troubles. Sow, I put it to the settlers of thaJ?ortyMile Bush to consider if it is not fjelfish lung in those who have that biElled •oad to clamour also for a railray, to consider whether they would not io acting more wisely no less than generously n supporting the road policy, since even if ;hey_ had the railway they would still require roads to reach it. (Hear,) Let me lay one word as to the figures.given at the Masterton meeting for the proposed road jxpanditure. Little importance can be ittacbed to tho3o figures, They reprelent only rather hurried suggestions, Their shief value was to Bhow that, at least E85.000 was needed to put tho main disiriets of the County in permanent communi;ation with Masterton and the railway; but [ must correct an error of the Press, not to De wondered at'"from the rough state in' which the figures were banded to its representatives. Instead of a total of £7f.,000 she total should have been £85,000, and if ive put the Masterton-Waimah figures at £12,000 instead of £20(10, that total is at nice made up. Now, bound uj&with this question of County roads, is of the opening up of the Crown lands, This s a matter of vast importance to the district. At least 100,000 aero? of these dancKiave their natural outlet by Masterton,.. Fnisan those this side tho Vuketdi ranges, Now what is the present administration of Waste Lands? Have you, have we, who'are.most intensely interested in the good administration of this great mine of industry aud wealth the very least voico in its administration? Not one jot. The Land Board is nominated without your knowledge, • or consent, and it sits at Wellington 100 milos Dff. We have no voice in and no power )ver its actions, Tho administration of the rablio lands is a soandal greater than any scandal in a colony where scandals abound. The public lands arc squandered on one land on syndicates and companies by the 100.000 acres at a job, and if an honest vorking settler wants a block of 50 cr 100 teres he is bulbed and sent from ..pillar to lost, and when at last the land is put up le finds that it is in 6uch small quantities hat the competition drivoshim into most ixcessive prices, (loud applause,) and the ast threat was that he should not have a reehold but a leasehold, subject to re-valua-ion every iljMiwllmlriqMoffflediase. Chat th'.eat it is true was not cameAsut, Parliament refused to sanotiori it aSf the easeholderhasarigbt of purchase. ™ook it the action of the Land BoM in this iountry, of the waiting for lands o be opened for sale, and after a great lourish tho Board put up a miserable 30 lets n all 5000 acres, to bo competed for by all he people in the Wairarapa, How do thev mt them up? not a lot is described; there s nothing to Bhow a nun what he ib buying, nd well we bad a visit not long ago from he champion of the cry for the leople." Mr Bolleston primo nover in this leasehold fraud, He was tho riend of small settlers the pronounced ipponent of big settlers, yet he is tho nintster who assisted to give 160,000 acres of xcellent land in the Wellington Province to , private company as an absolute irrevocable ;ift land valued at £500,000, and just before te left office he assisted to secure to seme irivate individuals a freehold of 100,000 ores in the South Island, at 2i 3d an acre, tnown to havo seams of coal directly ,pproacb.able from tho sea, besides immense lOßsibilities of other mineral wealth, I epaat that -we are at the mercy of these m who pose as models of virtue, WKive iO voio» in the-disposal of the lands, W»P ontrolow the proceeds of the sale. Tho

territorial rovenuo is put down for the last financial.your at £IBB,OOO, and!understand that it is all gone, and there is nothing for roads-gone, filtered, squandered. 1 Ideclare lbelieve.itwouldhave'beeri'better to give' the land away/than sell it, only to take the monoy out of the pocket of the hardwovking aottler and acattor it among officials 'who are _ not producing Is a year.Mvho are adding nothing to the ralth of the colony but living on the labor of the working settlers. £IBB,OOO goae from the hands Of industry to feed the non-prodm ers. Tan you wonder wecau'tget money for road j.? Can yon wonder wo can't get our Crown lands settled? Well, let us return to the question of roads. 1 have said you ought to. be responsible masters of your own progress, not waiter." upon Government providence You can only be thus by insisting on substantial representative local self government, because you cannot have proper endowment unless you have a stable local body responsible to Parliament lor its administration. You are pr,ying land tax now under tho ; head of JPropurty Tax, and you are .paying it under a mosc unsatisfactory system of valuation, and you are continually goiug to Parliament for subsidies and help. Let Parliament create a proper land tax, and appropriate it for local purposes: it will become in the hands of our local authorities an essentially reproductive tax, and we need no longer go begging to Government for help; we can eventually relieve jour Colonial exchequer of many liabilities. It is quite time that the Country should cease to go crying every year to Parliament for favors, (Cheers), In our local administration what we want is an administration at onco liberal and parsimonious : The liberality that devises liberal tilings, the parsimony that constitutes so great a revenue, And now let me say a few words as lo our County Council. ] am one of your members, hut a mt-mher by accident, not by election. Tuis is a large meeting and I want to know whether you accept that accident, whether you (ire content that 1 riiould he one of your representatives, 1 ask you to confirm what accident has done. Let mc say plainly that ii 1 am to represent you I must always be free to consider the interests of tho whole County, a;;d I believe that in so doing I shall best consult your interests. The prosperity of Masterton, and the rest of the County is part of your interests. (Cheers). I te'l you plainly Ido not believe in the County Council as at present constituted, It is not in my opinion constituted on a basis which commands the support of the entire County, but it being the oniy central authority in existence I strongly desire to keep it on foot till a more salisfao tory power can take its place; and meantime all <Ye can hope is to'make it as productive of gooi and as powerless for mischief a-f possible, I hope that the change in the personnel of the Board will do good. I do not say it is for the better in respect of the individual members, because I wish to express my sense of the ability, no less than tho excellence of the intentions of those who are no longer on it, (applause) but a change which manes tho Council free to take a new departure to adjust its finances, and restrict its operations within closer limits will, I hope induce those who wero threatening its total abolition to see if some .middle course may not be adopted with advantage to the public interest. (Cheers,)

A vote of confidence in Mr Hawkins as a representative of the Castlepoinb Hiding was carried on tho motiou of Mr Bellies seconded by Mr R, Meredith.

Caplain Edwin telegraphs that there is every indication of a heavy gale between north-east and norih and west after ten o'clock to-night and much rain to-morrow morning,

Cured of Dbiskino.-"A young friend of mine was cured of an insatiable thirst for liquor, that had so prostrated his system that he was unable to do any business. He was entirely cured by hopbittm It allayed all that burring thirst, took away the appetite for liquor, made his nervej steady, and ho has remained a sober and steady man for two years, and ho \m no desire to return to his cups."—From a leading E.E. Official. Read NEGLECT IS OFTEN AS FERTILE A CAUSE OF SUFFERING as the disease itself. Human nature, warned as it is by repotted examples, is prone to forgot the salutary lessons they inculcate anJ apt to lose by deferment, the good it may rccievc from prompt and declslvo action. When the means a e within our grasp, it is almost sinful to allow their escape, ami hose who overlook the virtues of UDOLPHO WOLFE'S SCHIEDAM AROMATIC SCHNAPPS must stand forever scli-criminatcd and rcnroaihcd.